Chapter 146: Tianlong’s number one boxer Kang Min has arrived!The members of the Beggars' Sect waited silently, and it was night when they waited. The evening breeze is blowing, the moon is bright and the stars are sparse, so the shores of Taihu Lake are naturally very cool. Murong Fu ordered the island to be lit with lanterns and torches. Although it could not make the island as bright as day, the torches and lanterns plus the bright moonlight could illuminate every person clearly. After a whole day of hard work, the Beggars' Gang were starving, but luckily there was Taihu Lake nearby with water and fish. Many beggars have started roasting "beggar fish". They carry coarse salt with them, remove the scales and gut the fish, sprinkle the fish with coarse salt, wrap them in lotus leaves, cover them with mud and then roast them. Many of these beggars carried wine gourds and wine bags with them, so they had both wine and meat this time. When they peeled open the roasted "beggar fish", the fish meat had the fragrance of lotus leaves, and the aroma filled the air for a while. "Boss, have some fish. You haven't eaten much all day." Captain Jiang handed Qiao Feng a grilled beggar fish. At this time, Qiao Feng's power had recovered by 40%, and his injuries had also improved a lot. He could probably exert 30% of his strength. He couldn't help but sigh in his heart that Xue Muhua's medical skills were superb, and he had recovered so quickly. "Oh, I've been thinking about it, but I don't know where I've done anything to let down the brothers of the Beggars' Sect, which has caused dissatisfaction among them and even alarmed Elder Xu." Qiao Feng said as he took the beggar's fish, but he had no taste for it and ate a few bites in a hurry. Captain Jiang said: "It must be the despicable Quan Guanqing who instigated it. He is committing a crime of insubordination. Once the facts are clarified, he will be punished with three cuts and six holes according to the gang rules."
At this time, Quan Guanqing stood up, looked at Taihu Lake from afar, and said: "Here they are, the witnesses are here! My fellow brothers, it's not that I, Quan Guanqing, intend to embarrass the leader. I also admire Leader Qiao very much." "It's just that there are indeed some things wrong with Boss Qiao, and he has a strong motive to kill Deputy Boss Ma. Now the witness has come. If Boss Qiao is ultimately proven not guilty, I, Quan Guanqing, am willing to commit suicide to apologize!" Quan Guanqing's words were powerful and his whole demeanor was so righteous that the other brothers in the Beggars' Sect began to feel puzzled. Qiao Feng also looked towards Taihu Lake, and sure enough, he saw a large ship heading towards them. Qiao Feng said to Captain Jiang, "Go and inform Master Murong. This matter is also related to him. We have to find out the truth." "Yes." Listen to the fragrance in the pavilion. Murong Fu was very happy. "Feng Asan, Feng Asan, you have brought me a huge surprise." Murong Fu picked up a copper movable type and was overjoyed to see that the words were engraved clearly. In front of him were heavy wooden boxes filled with the copper movable type that Feng Asan had carved during this period. He had carved a total of 6,000 copper movable type. They are all commonly used words. This is more than enough for daily use. At this time, Bi Sheng had invented and improved movable type printing, but its application range was not wide and it did not replace woodblock printing. First, the books that were really in high demand at that time were things like the Four Books and Five Classics and Buddhist scriptures, which were more convenient to print using ready-made woodblocks. Second, the type loss is large, the cost is high, and the typesetting is also very complicated. There are about 40,000 Chinese characters, and at least 3,000 are commonly used. It is very difficult to create 3,000 movable type, let alone teach typesetters to recognize and search for characters one by one? In contrast, letters are more suitable for movable type printing because they are fewer in number and easier to recognize. Third, it is too difficult to make copper movable type. Generally, only the royal family can afford it. After all, copper is money now, and it is extremely difficult for ordinary craftsmen to cast copper movable type. It is truly amazing that Feng Asan's 6,000 copper movable characters were actually carved out of square copper ingots.
In addition, Feng Asan also equipped it with special ink to facilitate printing. Murong Fu flipped through the copper characters, arranged them, embedded them in a roller, applied ink on them, and turned the roller on the paper to print out Li Bai's famous poem. "There is bright moonlight in front of my bed, I suspect it is frost on the ground. I raise my head to look at the bright moon and lower my head to think about my hometown." Murong Fu took the rice paper and checked it. Seeing that the printing effect was very good, he was very satisfied. Feng Asan said, "I have kept the master's instructions in mind. I have also been designing the counterweight trebuchet. I believe it will be completed soon." "How did you carve so many copper characters so quickly?" Murong Fu asked. "It was my internal force. I added internal force!" Feng Asan said, "Just like this!" As Feng Asan spoke, he took out a copper ingot and a black carving knife. He used his internal force on the carving knife, and immediately copper chips flew everywhere. Feng Asan carved out a reverse word "圣". The whole process takes only tens of seconds. Gou Du said, "His carving knife is made of black iron, and he can use his inner strength to carve it. Other craftsmen have to use the lost wax method to cast things, but he can carve them. And his speed is very fast. It didn't take him much time to carve these 6,000 movable characters. Instead, it took him more time to mix the appropriate ink." "It turns out that using martial arts for productivity is the right way. Transforming steampunk into gaspunk is quite promising." Murong Fu said with emotion, "Gou Du, now we can publish a newspaper!" Gou Du asked, "The headmaster is talking about the imperial report?" Official reports are something that have existed since the Tang Dynasty. They were mainly used to convey various developments of the central government to local areas. By the Northern Song Dynasty, they had become very popular. Even many businessmen had people copy the court bulletins and sell them to gentry and officials to make a profit. In order to save trouble, many gentry officials purchased official reports directly from merchants. However, these official reports were very crude and many were copied manually, which was far inferior to later newspapers. Gou Du was a scholar, so he was naturally very familiar with this. "Unlike court reports, newspapers are for the people," said Murong Fu. "Now that we have these good copper-lead typefaces, we can print a large number of newspapers and sell them to the people. We should not only write about the various policies of the court, but also comment on and interpret them. We should also write about various interesting news from the people, and even publish poems, stories, jokes, etc. to enrich the lives of the people of the Song Dynasty. Such a newspaper will have more than 10,000 words per issue, and each issue will sell for a few coins. It will definitely become popular quickly!" "We can print beautifully and quickly become popular, but we will lose money!" Gou Du said, "Selling it for a few cents is too much of a loss!" Murong Fu smiled and said, "Don't be afraid to spend money. If you can spend money to occupy the high ground of public opinion, it is a sure win." Murong Fu understood too well the terrible thing about journalism. When journalism is used in a positive way, it can let people know the truth; when it is used in an evil way, it can really manipulate the public to the point of applause and set the pace. "Since the master insists, let's do it!" Gou Du naturally would not object. Murong Fu said, "Our newspaper is called Jiangnan Daily. It is called a daily newspaper, and it is best to publish one issue every three days. I am the editor-in-chief of Jiangnan Daily, and my pen name is Xishan Zhuren. You are the deputy editor-in-chief, and you should also choose a pen name for yourself. I have an idea of how our first issue will become a hit. We will write about the Beggars' Sect, and I guarantee that it will be in great demand!" “At that time, we can also sponsor storytellers from all over the country, let them read the Jiangnan Daily as a daily activity, and open teahouses and wine shops all over the Song Dynasty, further expanding our influence to the illiterate people!” Murong Fu had thought it all out. The front-page headline of the first issue of Jiangnan Daily was "Shocked, the elders of the Beggar Gang collectively fell for the pretty widow, whose fault is it", and followed closely by "The untold story of the pretty widow Kang Min and the Khitan man Qiao Feng". I believe that the people of the Song Dynasty would not be able to resist this kind of gimmick. Compared to who the widow slept with, Murong Fu’s rebellion might have become a trivial matter. This is also the magic of journalism. There are no thousands or tens of thousands of people dying. It's not as fascinating as the widow Wang next door having an affair! Murong Fu had decided that he must teach Gou Du the secrets of journalism and make him a famous celebrity in the Song Dynasty. Once we have control of the commanding heights of public opinion, future rebellions will be much more effective with half the effort.
"My Lord, the witnesses from the Beggar Gang have all arrived." At this time, a female disciple from the Lingjiu Palace reported. "Haha, if you want a widow, here she comes." Murong Fu said with a smile, "Our Madam Ma is here. Madam Ma is not an ordinary woman!" Mrs. Ma Kang Min is the number one female boxer in Tianlong. Her boxing skills are superb. Even though Qiao Feng has the Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palms, he was beaten to pieces by Kang Min. This little fairy is much more powerful than the leader of the Beggars' Sect. The reason why Kang Min punched Qiao Feng and ruined his reputation was simply because Qiao Feng didn't even look at her in the crowd. It's wrong to be a man, and it's also wrong not to be a man. The little fairy is so scary that it's creepy! "Mrs. Ma is extraordinary?" Ah Zhu asked curiously, "Is she very good at martial arts?" "She doesn't know martial arts, but I'll tell you one thing." Murong Fu said, "She used to be one of Prince Duan's women. Prince Duan's women are not easy to deal with." Ah Zhu: “.” Abi: “.” Wang Yuyan, Zhong Ling, Mu Wanqing: "." Could it be that there is a new sister? (End of this chapter)